Thankful

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for and it was wonderful to reflect on those things and regain the perspective we need as we go into this Christmas season. We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I feel like I could stop my post right there because really that describes it the best. Since I'm me, though, and prone to use too many words, I'll tell you a little more about it. :) This was only our 2nd Thanksgiving in our married life that we didn't travel to be with our families. Our very first year being married we worked retail jobs and both had to work Black Friday which meant no traveling. This year Jared just didn't have enough of a break to warrant a trip to California. It worked out great, though, because Jared's brother Sam came over from BYU-I to join us and his friend Jamie came along with him. It was so fun to have them for company and we all had a great time. Thanksgiving Day we also had our great friends the Stanworth's over for dinner. Lisa and I split up dinner, which I definitely think is the way to go! It was great not having to worry about every little side dish. I also got to use my new Roaster I got for Christmas from Jared's grandparents for the first time. The turkey cooked in 2 hours and was GREAT! I was very excited!

 I tried to take some pictures Thanksgiving day, but with it being so busy I didn't get very many. Since it was about food, I did take a picture of our morning treat. Have I mentioned here yet how much I love "Our Best Bites"? I used to follow their blog a lot and then got their cookbook when it came out and I have yet to make a recipe that I don't like. Anyway, our special Thanksgiving breakfast was stuffed apple cinnamon rolls and they were delicious. Best part was I had extra filling that we used as pancake topping the rest of the week. Fantastic! (I've yet to perfect the picture perfect food pictures....on the stove it is!) 

 Now, please feel free to laugh at our little haphazard set-up for Thanksgiving dinner. Our table only sits four, so we brought up our old table and the 4 little boys used the picnic table in the middle of the room with a shower curtain under them (Parker is the messiest eater known to man!). Jared thought he was super funny and set up Sam and Jamie's table with a "window view" and lit candle. He's such a kind big brother. :) 

 My brown bag turkey looked like it was on steroids. I made it the night before as a surprise for the boys. Brody figured me out as soon as he came down, though. He really has the sniffer of a pregnant woman. He was like 6 feet away and said, "Hey Mom, I smell popcorn in that turkey!" Funny guy. The popcorn served as the boys' dessert and they all sat there devouring it. It was really funny! Thank you Pinterest for the idea. :) 

 I was happy to be able to use my nice china for only the second time. I spent a half an hour digging it out of the back corner of our garage, but I was determined to use it. It had some extra special meaning to me this year as the majority of my place settings were given to me by my Aunt Mickey when we got married. Who knew when I asked for that when we got married it would have special meaning to me for the rest of my life?! I was happy to have that memory as holidays seem to be the toughest time when you miss someone. Anyway...Gramma Harley and Papa Donn had given me serving pieces for Christmas the last couple of years also, so I was happy to FINALLY get to use those! Thank you! I knew Gramma Harley would want a picture of my "presentation" even though it wasn't much. Linens should be on my short list of things to get if I ever host a holiday again. 

Nothing fancy as far as presentation goes, but I do really love my china.

 The day after Thanksgiving Sam, Jamie, and the boys and I took a little trip up to the ski resort right outside Boise called Bogus Basin. I had never been up there before and thought it'd be a fun thing for us to do. Plus, Jamie lives in California and was praying for some snow. Since it wasn't coming to us, I thought we'd find some for her. It actually ended up being way more fun than any of us had planned. The ski resort isn't open yet and it was blocked off when we drove up there. There were some men sitting out there, though, and came up to the car to ask if we were just out for a drive. They said that we could go ahead an go up. They moved some cones for us and off we went to enjoy the snow all by ourselves! The views were beautiful and Brody LOVED playing in the snow. Parker, on the other hand, didn't particularly like being cold and especially didn't like his shoes being covered with snow. He didn't last long with us until I put him back in his carseat with the heater on in the car. He read books while we played in the snow! ha! 

 I took this picture for Parker because he was most intrigued with this white horse that was on top of this mountain.

 Sammy and his friend Jamie. My boys loved Jamie, but had a little trouble with her name? Brody called her "Jammie" the whole time he was here. I think he likes his PJ's a little too much. She was a good sport about it! My favorite part of having Jamie at my house for Thanksgiving? Black Friday shopping buddy and Breaking Dawn co-watcher (plus she was just a super sweet girl who was fun to hang out with!). We were out until 4 a.m. doing some serious Black Friday shopping. My kids are covered for Christmas! Woohoo!

 I have no idea what mountains those are and I'm too tired to look it up, but it's what you see from the top of Bogus Basin. It really was beautiful up there! Just very cold!

 Sam and Jamie before Parker decided he was done. Notice his hand in Sam's pocket. haha!

 I love this picture because you can see how much Parker was truly enjoying himself. :)

 Brody, on the other hand, wanted to play out there forever. He was pretty upset when it was time to go (even though his teeth were chattering!). One of his favorite games was chasing Sam and having Sam jump over him. I love the hat flapping in the wind...

 Go Sam Go!

 My happy boy who loves the snow. Maybe he is related to me after all. :) 

My little boy who formerly hated all things that made him dirty was loving kicking up the snow. He tried making snow balls to throw but the snow was a little too fluffy. We're looking forward to getting at least one good snow in Boise this year so we can make a snowman. Hopefully!

 Walking with his hand in Sam's pocket again. Sam didn't have gloves so he was happy with this arrangement!

 Idaho is beautiful. Did I mention this only took us 40 minutes to get up to? It's over 6,000 feet with about 70 switch backs driving up there, but it really is so close! I was pretty excited! You can see all of the Treasure Valley driving down. I'm loving Boise more and more the longer I live here! 

 Lastly, I'm sure a lot of you saw this on my Facebook, but I thought I'd post it here for my blog book. Holidays are absolutely magical with little kids. Especially 4 year old little boys who finally understand what's going on. He has been SO excited for every little part of Christmas. I debated for a while on the safety of putting lights on his bed, but he absolutely loves it and they are never on longer than 2 hours so I'm pretty sure it's okay! First thing in the morning he turns them back on. It's so fun to watch him be so excited. I'm so excited for December! :) 

If you're wondering where Jared is, he's still a pretty busy guy! He was able to join us for part of the break, but he only has 3 more weeks until graduation so he's just finishing up strong!! That'll be the best Christmas present ever! :) 

Favorite Sights

Just a few of my favorite sights from this week. Just a short post tonight. :) They all involve Jared in some way, shape, or form this time. Maybe because he gets to spend some time with us this week. Hooray! :) First of all, I'm going to share a picture even though Jared doesn't want me to because it is such a cute picture and relates to the next one. This is one of my favorite pictures of Jared and his little brother, Sam (who's coming tomorrow!! Woohoo!!). Sammy used to watch Jared play his gameboy and I think it's really cute that the same thing is happening with my boys. We don't have video games yet, but Ashley has been visiting and let Brody play Angry Birds on her iPod touch. They sat like that all on their own and I thought it was pretty similar to his Dad and Uncle. Also, note that Brody picked out his own clothes after Church. Mario Kart T-shirt, Shorts, and......church socks. It was a warm, 35 degrees so who wouldn't want to wear shorts?!

 Parker and Brody love to watercolor. Parker's favorite thing to paint (or have Daddy paint) is happy faces!

  One more  pictures of my Jared. This is one of my favorite things to see. My tall husband bending over Parker's crib, rubbing his back, and singing him songs. I'm really grateful to have such a great Dad for a husband! (excuse the camera phone picture)

Well, that's it. I hope you all have a safe, happy Thanksgiving!! 

Parker Man

Oh, my little Parker. I sometimes wish I could just freeze you in this moment of time because you are so fun. I know the years to come will bring the two's (or three's...those were worse for Brody) and teenage years so I want to write down what you're like today because you make me so happy and I want to remember this during those tough times. I know this probably won't interest many other people besides me, but I want to have it for my blog book.
Dear Parker,

*I love how you think life is so funny. You laugh at everything.*

*You are such a tail twister. You purposely go and take Brody's cars when he's not looking and then just stand there and wait for his reaction. You then give him his cars back, usually laugh a little, and go on your merry way.*

*You LOVE books. You would sit down and read 50 books in one sitting if we'd let you*

*You have toddler insomnia? I'm not sure what else to call it. You wake up for a couple hours every night usually between about 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. and have a little party in your bed. You don't usually need us, but we can hear you up there laughing, singing, and playing through the monitor. Oh, and it's pitch black in there because we thought that might help you sleep. Not sure what you're doing in there, but you're having lots of fun!*

*You are such a good little eater. You are usually really good about trying new things.*

*You love to sing. In the car, to your animals, with Brody. Your favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus"*

*Your favorite color is yellow, which I think is very fitting.*

*You love cars like Brody. Not sure if it's because he's taught you or you came that way,
 but either way they are your favorite toy.*

*You also love tractors/combines/monster trucks. I have had to learn about excavators, bucket trucks, front loaders, etc. because you always want to know what it is that we're passing.*

*You think you get an opinion on what direction we go in the car. You ALWAYS point me the way to Daddy's school since "pick up Daddy" is your favorite phrase when we're out and about. You get pretty upset when I bypass his school!*

*You are developing a love of sports. You love to throw, kick, and run. Football is one of your favorites to watch.*

*Your vocabulary is amazing. You have been such a mimer bird for so long and now you speak in full sentences.*

*You are a pretty shy little guy which is crazy to me because I see how you are at home. Your nursery leader said you finally talked the other day! I couldn't believe it! I remember my Dad having the same conversation with my elementary school teachers. He couldn't believe I didn't talk either! (that all changed in about 7th grade....then I believe my teacher called me a "social butterfly". Oops. We'll see if you do the same!)*

*You identify with emotions of other people. We were watching a movie the other day when a Mom had passed away and you got really sad and turned your head. You always notice when someone is crying and ask why they are sad. You are a very sweet little guy!*

*For some reason I can NOT kick your obsession with the toilet!! I'm hoping you will figure out soon how disgusting that is. haha!*

*You really do try and keep up with everything Brody does. Sometimes you like to egg him on. The other day you were laying on your back and Brody was jumping on top of you. I kept telling Brody to stop but you were laughing your head off and encouraging him!*

*We like to call you our adrenaline junkie. You try to jump off the highest part of the couch, slide down the biggest slide, and continually see how far up on the stairs you can jump off of. It scares me to death!*


*Your favorite thing to draw is smiley faces. Again, very fitting.*


*You REALLY, really love your Dad. It's not unusual to have you cry when he leaves in the morning.*


*Last but not least, your busy little self does calm down from time to time and gives the best snuggles ever. When you were sick last week you let me rock you for a bit which usually never happens. When you were tired enough you just pointed to your bed. I really did treasure it.*


Parker, we love you so much. Thank you for bringing so much laughter and personality to our family. Happy Birthday! 

Happy Birthday Parker!!

My little Parker turned two last week. I have another post with his current sayings, interests, etc. but this one has so many pictures that it probably would take too long. So, here's a few of my favorites from his birthday. One of this favorite presents was a Mater card from Aunt Ashley that sings "Bad to the Bone". He laughed and laughed!

Let me preface this by saying that I'm really working on my cake skills. Considering I did not actually own a cake pan until the day before his birthday you can tell how many I've done in the last 8 years! I have some friends who are amazing at them and have inspired me to at least try to do a little better! haha This was my version of a much fancier cake I found on Pinterest.  My cousin Andrea did a cake like this for her little guy a couple years ago also and I put it in my memory banks to recreate for one of my kids. Parker is much more into tractors, etc. than Brody so I thought it'd be perfect for him. He loved it! Still not the coolest cake in the world, but at least it's an improvement. haha!

A little closer up of the cake. Notice Jared's hand on the left holding down Parker's hands so I could take a quick picture before he got into it. He really was so excited! 

If you look at his plate you will see that someone else mainly enjoyed the frosting. ha!

A happy happy birthday boy! My Aunt Mickey always got her mom a gift on her birthday because she always said it was really a special day for her Mom also and to say thank you for bringing her into the world. I don't need any gifts for my kids' birthdays but I will say that it definitely is a special day for me to reflect and remember when he was born. Sappy much?! Probably a Cherie thing. 

Just to see a comparison I dug up a picture of Brody and I on his 2nd birthday. :) (I was about 7 months pregnant with Parker) As you can see, his car obsession has been around for a LONG time!

At least he still lets me kiss those cute cheeks!

He enjoys wrestling with Dad WAY too much to stop and take a picture, which really is fine because it demonstrates their cute relationship. I love it. :) 

My parents sent some money for Parker to pick out what he wanted for his birthday. He picked Cars 2 and drum roll please.....a tractor!! It is one of the favorite toys around the house now. :)

Parker love, love, loves his huge truck from Mimi and Poppy! He laughs and laughs at it and Brody and Parker both take turns hauling thier cars around in the back.

One of his new funny faces:

Mimi and Poppy also sent construction vehicle magnets. Perfect!! Such a great idea!

Mimi is a librarian at an elementary school and gets school pictures every year. I love that we get to have one and put it up on our fridge. Brody loves it to and took the opportunity to give her kisses! :)

One reason we were bummed we didn't get to go to Sacramento is that Parker missed out on a tradition Jared's grandparents have started with their great grandkids. When they turn 2 they like to take them to Build-a-bear for the first time and let them pick one out. They were very sweet and sent a gift card along for us to go enjoy, but I promised I'd take lots of pictures. So, here you go Gramma Harley! :) Remember this post? Brody at 2

Parker went through initially and picked out a couple he liked. I lined them up and let him choose. He picked the Daschund all on his own!! My Mom loved hearing this because they had 3 daschunds for a long time and is quite the fan. He also got to get a miniature one that fits in the big one's mouth. He calls it the baby dog. He wanted to name his dog, Monkey. That's right. He has a Dog named Monkey.

Taking in the whole store...

Pushing the buttons. This worker lady LOVED Parker! She was the sweetest little Russian lady.

Snuggling "Monkey" :)

I went back through my blog archives to see what Brody had chosen when he was two. He dug through to find the solid heart and Parker picked the opposite--the checkered one. Putting the heart in his puppy dog.

Brushing his dog...

Officially naming him "Monkey"

...and trying so hard to carry the box that was almost as big as he was.

We tried for a picture with Mom but the escalator was too close by so he was trying to make a run for it. 

When we picked up Brody from pre-school he was so excited to see "Monkey". He thought the big dog's name should be "Harry" and the little one should be "Clifford". Monkey the puppy had to go everywhere with us for several days. Parker even made sure it had a beanie on when we went outside. It then rode in the car between the two boys facing forward. It was pretty funny! Now Parker snuggles them both at night. Thank you so much Gramma and Papa! I absolutely love this tradition. :)

Lastly, just a quick photo from the dentist this week. Brody was so funny. Last time he was a little nervous, but this time he went right in and let them take x-rays and then headed for the chair. He put the ear phones and sunglasses on right away. "Rio" was playing on the ceiling! Happy boy. Parker started off not very happy with the dentist (wiggling, pushing hands away, etc.), but halfway through got distracted by "Rio" and calmed down enough to let the dentist look at his teeth. The dentist said he's not sure if he's ever had that happen before. Both boys were cavity free so it was a good day! 

I wonder if I could talk my dentist into putting movies on the ceiling? Maybe then I wouldn't absolutely hate going?! Yeah, probably not. Well, that's it! Like I said, another little Parker birthday post is coming and then we'll move on. :) Have a great weekend and go Boise State! 

Fall 2011!!

Well, now if you're here then you're officially invited to our private blog. :) I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out, so just excuse me if you get a couple e-mails or something from me. 

First of all, I just want to say thank you for putting up with me changing up my blog. I started really thinking about it after my post about Boise. I've purposely tried not to do that and I just wanted to share a few things so I did. I always figured if you didn't have a home phone number you wouldn't show up on sites like whitepages.com because that's what's listed in the white pages, right?! Well, after that post I typed in my first and last name and Boise and my address popped right up! It really weirded me out to think that someone could randomly look at my blog and then show up at my door. Call me crazy, but I'm not okay with that! Maybe we've just never stayed anywhere long enough to pop up on those sites, but a little privacy I think is a good thing. Anyway...

We've actually been up to a LOT this week because Mr. Parker turned 2! Since there are 42 pictures, however, I'm going to break it up in separate posts. So his birthday ones will be coming. :) We have spent the majority of the last week and a half with some little sickies in our house. We even missed out on a trip to Sacramento to meet our new nephew/cousin and attend his blessing. Mr. Parker had a fever for 5 days straight and was a pretty miserable guy. We just couldn't take him around a brand new baby and ALL of Jared's 4 grandparents! Being sick definitely tuckers out my kids, though, and it's kind of nice to get some cuddle time. This is only the second time EVER either of my kids have fallen asleep not in their beds or in the car. I love that I've heard of other people's kids falling asleep in random places  and I've always sort of hoped mine would because I think it's funny. Well, sick Parker delivered. Passed out on the couch in the middle of the day:

Thankfully he got better, though, and we got to get out in the cooler weather some more. I love cold weather because his cheeks are even cuter sticking out from under a beanie! I believe he has Ash a Bash on speaker phone. I'm not the only one who likes to talk on the phone in the car. :)

Just a random funny picture of Mr. Brody. Parker got Cars 2 for his birthday and Brody couldn't wait to watch it again. He lined up his cars on either side facing the T.V. so they could watch it with him. He's such a funny guy!

Another random picture from our FHE this week on gratitude. Thank you Pinterest for the cute idea. I just thought it was funny hearing what a 4 year old brain was thankful for. If you can't read them they are: President Monson, my friend Blake, paper, mommy, the sky, daddy, my body that hops, dances, and runs, and Mimi, Poppy, Grammy, and Grandpa. 

The most fun thing we've been up to is playing in the leaves! I just love this picture because you can see the excited fists on my big one and a very happy face on my little one. They were LOVING it! 

 That's a laughing Brody!

 Chasing each other round in circles through the leaves!

 Different day. The gardeners bagged up all the leaves in the previous pictures, but we found some new ones to play in. It was a lot colder this day!

 Our best friend the garbage man decided to join us. We like to give him cookies from time to time because he provides two days a week of window watching excitement for my kids. This day was Parker's turn to give the garbage man cookies and he was so excited! A far cry from the first time when he cried the whole time because he didn't understand we weren't giving ALL the cookies to the garbage man. He waves at my boys in the window usually but this day he even beeped the horn for us. Watching him drive away... 

 He was cold and actually pretty mad at me for making him hold still for a minute. Not quite sure how I managed to get this smile but I'm happy I did. They are hard to come by these days as he tries to hide from cameras!

 This is a very classic mischevious Parker face. The is his I'm-about-to-throw-leaves-all-over-my-mom face. :)

 Last but not least, I tried to get a picture of the two of them. I have NO idea how photographers accomplish this. Parker was cold and Brody was upset because the sun was in his eyes. Funny boys. The best I got:

Well, that's it for this post. Thanks again for reading and following along with our little family. I think the most fun part about this whole going private thing was finding out some people read my blog that I didn't realize. A cute cute family friend from New Hampshire (Lozzie that's you!) and a friend/classmate of mine from 1st or 2nd grade (do you remember Adeline?!) who is also as sweet as can be. I'm grateful to have such sweet family and friends and I want you to know how much I appreciate you all. I hope you're having a wonderful November and that you're looking forward to the holiday craziness that is upon us!